I felt that this recipe had a lot of potential so I tried a few different versions to really find THE one. Both tasters agreed that this version was yum!
Ingredients (serves 2):
– 160 g of wholegrain pasta
– 120 gr, or around 7 leaves, of soft rourou (taro leaves)
– 8 black olives (optional but strongly recommended)
– 4 garlic cloves
– chili
– 20 g of cashews (or pine nuts / sunflower seeds)
– Olive oil
Directions:
1) Wash the rourou, place it in a pot, cover in water and cook for 40 minutes on medium heat. Stir from time to time and add more boiling water as needed to avoid burning the leaves. At the end of the cooking there should be no water left. The idea is to avoid throwing away the cooking water as this would result in the loss of precious nutrients.
2) In the meantime, weight and grind the cashews. I simply do it in a food processor but if you prefer the traditional way, you can always use mortar and pestle 😄. Set aside.
3) Finely chop the garlic and chili. The quantity of chili will depend on your taste, feel free to put as much as you can handle!
4) Heat a tbsp. of oil on low heat and cook the garlic and chili until they become brownish.
5) When the rourou is cooked and starts melting, blend it together with 4 olives, the garlic and chili. If the sauce is too thick, add a few spoons of the pasta cooking water. Don’t add any oil 😆.
6) Add the pasta to boiling water and cook it for the number of minutes indicated on the pack. Don’t add any oil to the water, just stir regularly and the pasta won’t stick.
7) When the pasta is cooked, add the pesto, 4 finely chopped olives and the ground cashews.
This recipe is not only delicious, it’s also super nutritious! It’s full of dietary fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals thanks to the combination of the whole grains (whole grain pasta), vegetables (rourou) and nuts (cashews).
Taro leaves are a great food, as they’re full of minerals (such as iron, potassium, magnesium, calcium), antioxidants and vitamins (including A, C and E).